What a year! And what a vacuum!
It has been ….. Months since I last update the entry post.
Since then, life goes on as it is. There are ups and downs, good times and bad
times. Here are the highlights of the past few months
August 2013
It was the month that saw me working hard to finalize my MA
dissertation. Praised God! I have a tremendous support from my husband and
daughter, friends across the globe and family prayers.
Endless days and nights perusing the notes that has been
painstakingly collected. The days are filled by string of ideas and opinion,
trying very hard to make conclusion. Sometimes .. (actually… most of the time) I
found myself lost in those wildernesses of grand ideas and the need to stay
focus and grounded. For these times, I thank Simon, my husband, for his
patience in dealing with my tantrums, pointless whining and ‘thinking’. His logical
minds and effective questions during our discussions helped steered my thinking.
My daughter who is the source of my inspiration has been our
most valuable blessing ever. Her innocent question, good nature and impeccable
character make our journey smooth and calm. She is our good luck charm… our
blessing … the center of our universe.
September 2013
I finally got it together! MA Dissertation DONE! With all
its bad points and good points. The best thing is I got to finished this race
with my best friends … or should I say… Sisters.
Then it is time to say good bye to these sisters of mine…
Chinese, Filipino, Kuwaiti, Russian, Japanesse, Taiwanesse, British. All went
home to their respective country and I know will bring great impact to their
community.
It was also time for us to say good bye to Brighton – The place
we will always hold dear – Tania’s Birthplace (and she still say that she’s a
Brightonian), the place where Simon and I earned our degree, the place that
bring us to meet Jan and Rusty, Tania’s British Grandparents. There are many
memories here. They will never be forgotten.
By the end of this month, we've returned back to Ambon.
October – December
2013
We lived a laid back life. Travelling back and forth between
Waai Village (Simon’s Parent’s house) and Passo (my parent’s house), sleeping,
cooking, catching up stories etc.
I went back to teach at my language center, LKP Marlene’s
Language Center. It felt great to be able to go back teaching and returning to
what I love doing. I was mostly busy with enjoying time with Simon and Tania
and our big family. But I was also engulfed in helping to improve the
administration, curriculum and organization system of our English Course. During
my absence (due to the MA study), my mother and father (who are both language teachers)
have been doing their absolute best to keep the Language Center running.
However of course due to the lack of instructor, some of the classes with
different levels are merged. It was fine. But the impacts are severe. Some of
the more advanced students are either bored, agitated or do not put any effort
because either way their abilities are above the others. Meanwhile, the slower
ones are left behind because we need to somehow tired to balance the pace and
content. – Anyways, all is well.
We also tried out for the PNS (Civil servant) Admission
test. We planned to apply to be the lecturer. However, even when we started, we
already know that it’s a slim chance for us to pass the 1st administration
test. Our MA certificates still need to be ratified by the Indonesian Higher
Education Department. The process cost us the time and we were late to submit
our documents.
Nevertheless, God is ever so Good and HIS ways can never be
understood or forecast by our mere human mind. Few weeks after the announcement
of shortlist candidates for PNS (we didn’t make it), we were called by the
State Polytechnic in Ambon to help support them in teaching English at
Accounting Department. We gladly accept and we are Accounting English Lecturer
until now.
January 2014 – Now
(August 2014)
Is business as usual. We are still teaching at our Language
Center and at Polytechnic. Tania is growing and developing rapidly. Her Bahasa
Indonesia is getting better. However, she still encounters problems to produce
replies. Other than that, her understanding is much better. I’m going to write
a separate entry about Tania’s language development.
I am still dealing with weight gain. I am now 8 kg lighter
than I was 5 months ago. And now I am stuck at this current weight for 2 months
now. However, I do not mind at all. I am doing a healthy diet and not the
die-hard one. Making sure I watch my portion and what I ate… for this and the next
month I think I should add some more exercise routines..
Our Language Center is thriving… with all hands on deck we
have enough man power (teachers) to handle the classes. We’re doing improvement
and development to our curriculum. Hopefully we can help the student to improve
more.
I am going to teach my dreaded level and class… KIDS Class…
NOPE! I am NOT very patient with Kids. I consider myself interact better and
teach better with junior high school and up kids. But elementary kids… whoa! They
required extra-terrestrial strength.
Nevertheless, in the name of conquering your biggest fear
and for the development of our Language Center, I am taking on KIDS and BASIC
class for this Quarter… Ooo Boy! Will write about it on a separate ELT-ing
entry.
Well, that’s it in a nutshell… See you on my next entry
folks!
- H -
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